THEN Nottingham Forest boss Clark seen first hand the suffering the Northern Irishman and wife Anne went through and is delighted that he has delivered the Perth side their first ever trophy.

And the man who helped guide him through that heartache admitted nobody deserves success more than the Ulsterman.

Frank Clark was boss of Nottingham Forest when Wright and wife Anne suffered the tragedy of losing son Andrew at the age of just five.

The pain hasn’t gone away 20 years after his death from cerebral palsy and he took time out to reflect amid the jubilation at full-time at Celtic Park.

Rising managerial star Wright first spoke of his huge loss in our sister paper the Daily Record two years ago when he was then assistant to Steve Lomas at McDiarmid Park.

The Saints boss said at the time: “It’s quite ironic Andrew and passed away on November 30, 1994 - St Andrew’s Day - at the age of five. He was buried at home and I returned to training about 10 days later.

“Frank Clark was manager of Nottingham Forest and didn’t want that but my wife did and it was probably the best thing I did because the longer you stay away the less likely you are to go back. Forest as a club were absolutely superb. Boss Frank Clark was unbelievable at the time and certainly helped my wife and me immensely.”

Clark, 70, knows Wright better than most having signed him twice - at Forest and Manchester City - and was delighted to catch images of Wright following last week’s 2-0 win over Dundee United which earned the Perth men their first silverware in the club’s 130 year history.

Speaking to MailSport, he said: “I didn’t manage to see the Scottish Cup final but I caught some higlights of the match later on at night and I saw Tommy Wright fleetingly. There was nobody more delighted for him than me.

“He and wife Anne had the real tragic experience when they lost their son which didn’t help him career-wise but he was a real good acquisition. Nobody can comprehend what he must have gone through at that time.

“Tommy returned to training about 10 days later which I didn’t want because some things are much bigger than a game of football. There was never any question in my mind that he could take as much time as he wanted and we knew he wouldn’t abuse it.

“Sometimes you have to be more than just a football manager and you need to get close to the players and if they need help in areas that aren’t directly connected with what happens on the football pitch then you have to do that.

“That is part of what being a manager is all about, really. He was a bit more subdued when he came back but he dealt with it and he was more or less the same good influence in the dressing room. When the camera panned on his face last weekend I was so pleased for him.”

Clark - a European Cup winner as a player with Forest - admitted that of all the players in a City Ground dressing room that included Stuart Pearce he didn’t see Wright as one who would go into management.

He said: “I have to say I didn’t see Tommy as management material. I thought he might have gone on to be a good goalkeeping coach, which he did initially.

“It’s difficult when you look at players to think who might go into management and who might not. When I went to Nottingham Forest they weren’t what you would describe as a coaching orientated club.

“Brian Clough was never what you would call a hands-on coach who did a lot of functional work on the training pitch but if you look at that team I had at Forest a lot have made the step into coaching/management.

“Des Little has tried his hand at management in non-league, Colin Cooper is manager of Hartlepool, Steve Chettle was assistant at Ilkeston Town, Stuart Pearce of course has had high profile jobs, Ian Woan is assistant manager at Burnley and Steve Stone is assistant at Newcastle United.

“It’s been quite amazing how many of them have gone into coaching or mangement and I wouldn’t have seen it with too many of them at the time they were playing for me apart from Pearcey who was always a leader in the dressing room anyway.

“The rest of them you’re just not sure where their career paths take them. I always felt Tommy would go into goalkeeping coaching because he was quite passionate about that but I never heard him express any burning desire to be a manager.

“Tommy was a great lad, a real top man, and it’s great to see him doing so well. I signed him twice in his career, the first time for Nottingham Forest when we needed an experienced as Mark Crossley was having a bit of a bad time when I first went there.

“I felt we needed someone to take the pressure off Mark a bit and we signed him from Newcastle United. He was great about the club and in the dressing room and did a great job for me.

“We had a scouting network at Forest and when I was looking for an experienced goalkeeper it came back that Tommy was the man for us. Mark Crossley eventually got back in the team and Tommy couldn’t get into the first team because Crossley was playing out of his skin but he was still a bloke you wanted about the club.

“The last time I spoke to him he’d just gone to St Johnstone with Steve Lomas who I knew as well. He knew Steve from Northern Ireland set-up and then of course at Manchester City.

“Winning the Scottish Cup won’t have gone unnoticed and that’s how you progress in management. You build up your CV and that will be a great addition to his. He will be talked about because of that achievement.